Work Text:
A great deal of things have changed over the course of the past decade or so. In the aftermath of the Fall and especially during the long night, the practice of fast fashion that we once took for granted in the city of Insomnia became a thing of the past. While much has changed yet again since the sun returned to the face of Eos, and the reopening of industry across the world, the practice of recycling textiles has not fallen out of fashion. If anything, it has grown even more innovative than ever before.
While the practice of recycling old or unused fabric was certainly not a new concept, very little thought was given regarding doing so. Prior to the Fall, the city alone generated roughly sixteen million tons of textile waste every year. Nearly eighty-five percent of that waste ended up in the trash while only fifteen percent was recycled. It wasn’t until our world was in ruin, when the long night descended upon us all, that the concept for giving old clothes new life ascended to a scale that was not only popular, but was an absolute necessity.
Iris Amiticia was among the early pioneers of the practice, selling her wares on the streets of Lestallum before joining the ranks of the Daemon Hunters. “I needed something to do to help,” she explained when she sat down with IQ to discuss her role as an artisan. “I could fight, but I was still young and my training wasn’t far enough along yet for me to join the hunters. It was Ignis who gave me the idea. Gladdy, Ignis, Prompto, Talcott, and myself were all squeezed into a small room back then before we all spread out to different places. Anyway, Ignis came home from a meeting and was talking about how clothing was in short supply and together we came up with a plan to make and repurpose clothes out of any sort of fabric we could find.”
When we reached out to Ignis Scientia for comment on Ms. Amiticia’s statement he replied, “I did play a minor role in the process. A clothing shortage was beginning to make itself apparent in the early days of the long night. When Iris suggested recycling textiles, I helped to organize for textiles to be added to the list of items collected during salvage missions. Then arranged for any collected material to be distributed to Iris and other artisans for cleaning and repurposing.”
“Ignis is still too modest,” Ms. Amiticia said with a chuckle during our follow up interview. “He was a huge part of the process. It wouldn’t have been able to happen on such a large scale without him. We both recognized that although people needed clothing that was functional and comfortable, that there also needed to be variety. That way people could still maintain a sense of style. Especially when you’re living through hell, even the smallest things like being able to have clothes that made you feel good helped to raise morale.”
“It was Ignis who expanded the hunters and glaive’s search for material from just unused, old, clothing and shoes, to any kind of fabric we could get our hands on, like curtains, blankets, and tablecloths. It allowed us the freedom and flexibility to be able to create new clothing beyond simply making modifications to existing pieces. Ignis even served as my test model in the early days. I’m pretty sure that Prompto has a picture of him wearing one of my earliest outfits somewhere.”
When IQ reached out, Prompto Argentum did in fact have a photo of Mr. Scientia wearing one of Ms. Amiticia’s outfits that made use of an eclectic mix of different fabrics of various colors and textures. “Oh, yeah! I remember this one,” Mr. Argentum commented when he provided the photo to us. Iggy loved the lacing on the sleeves. I think that Iris made the scarf out of an old curtain panel. I wouldn’t have been able to pull this look off, but honestly, Iggy looks good in just about anything.”
Today the clothing industry has revived, but our old, disposable way of thinking has not returned along with it. One of the trendiest new ways to reuse old textiles involves the shredding of fabrics in order to mill them into colored powders that can be used to dye new clothes.
“It is a process that I’ve heard great things about,” Mr. Scientia commented on the process. “My understanding is that the dyeing method helps to save water, reduce pollutants, save energy and protect overall human health. I am very happy to support new clothing manufacturers that make use of this method.”
